


So We Know We're Not Alone

by Elise_Davidson



Series: 40 Snapshots [23]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: 40 Snapshots, 40. Writer's Choice-Hope, And he probably has a plan, Gen, Rumple has kin, Sequel to Stars Are All My Friends, non-canon season 6, not season 6 compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 22:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10448850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elise_Davidson/pseuds/Elise_Davidson
Summary: Jack and Maggie Banner talk to Emma.  Emma sends them to Gold.  Emma, Regina, and Hook discuss if they can actually find Moira Banning or not in a different realm.  The end result has as much closure as Jack and Maggie's story does.*Sequel to "The Stars Are All My Friends"; link is in the story*





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Stars Are All My Friends](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951768) by [Elise_Davidson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elise_Davidson/pseuds/Elise_Davidson). 



> Author’s Note: Okay, so I apparently wasn’t done with this plot rabbit. There’s some CSQ if you really squint, but not really. I learned my lesson the last time I tried to do that.
> 
> The…timeline probably doesn’t work with what we know about S6 so far, but still works well if you go non-canon-compliant after S5. The first story I did with this was tagged as not being S6-compliant anyway, so if you liked that particular fic, this is definitely for you. If not, well…the back button is just up there.
> 
> Okay, so, attempting again to post this sort of thing in the OUaT fandom. I am still a little terrified of the readers/fans here; no lie.
> 
> Enjoy!

40\. Writer's Choice-Hope

 

XXXXX

 

Jack Banning sometimes marveled at his sister.  Maggie was continually sweet, hopeful, and all-around optimistic that no matter where they were, or how bad things seemed, everything would eventually be okay.

So much like their mother, he thought sadly, as he watched her feed the ducks in the pond, clucking at them as the breeze tossed her hair.  He didn’t think he would ever get to see this again—Maggie simply being Maggie.  She had always loved animals.

“So…” a voice interrupted his thoughts, “Wanna tell me how you two got here?”

Jack startled and turned.  They hadn’t been in town that long, but it had been long enough to know who Sherriff Swan was.  He looked blandly over her shoulder.

“No pirate bodyguard?” he asked, his casual tone ruined by the steel underneath it.

Emma didn’t seem overly offended by his open malice for Hook.  “He had other things to do.”

Jack snorted as Maggie dusted off her hands and approached them with confusion on her face.  “Presumably kidnapping the kids of someone else he had a problem with so he can brainwash them into servitude.”  He looked fondly at Maggie.  “Or throw them in jail, who knows.  I’m going for a walk.”  He turned sharply, only one clear wave of feeling coming from him— _leave me alone_.

Emma sighed as Maggie gestured to a bench for them to sit down.  “I can’t imagine how difficult a lot of this has been for you.”

Maggie shrugged, seemingly unconcerned by their situation.  “A lot of things are hard.”  She looked off at where Jack had taken residence some distance away, but more than likely still within in earshot.  “It’s just harder for him.  He’s seen your captain a couple of times since we got here, you know.  Me too.”

Emma nodded.  “He remembers both of you.”  A small smile tugged at her lips.  “Something about wanting to tear his hook off?”

Maggie stiffened, but the corners of her mouth were twitching.  “Needless to say, I don’t take too kindly to being failed.  In any case, some strange man with a hook for a hand took us from our home and then held us hostage for a father we weren’t sure cared enough to risk his neck for us.”

Emma sat back against the bench.  “People change.  I think you two know that better than anyone.”

Maggie picked at the hem of her thick jacket.  “I don’t know where our father is, if that’s what you’re asking.  I haven’t seen him since…well.”  She didn’t go any further.

Emma gave her a look that was part sympathy, part confusion.  “What do you remember from the last time you saw him?”

Shrugging, Maggie looked at Jack tossing rocks in the water.  “Honestly?  I’m not sure _what_ happened.  He seemed to really want us to forget what had happened that Christmas.  Jack and me…we just never could swallow it that it was just a dream.  I don’t know if Mom was just so happy to have us back that she agreed with him, or if she didn’t believe in the first place.”

Emma made a soft noise of assessment in her throat.  “I suppose it would be easier for her, to just forget.  So, your dad?”

Maggie nodded, bringing her focus back to Emma.  “Well…I mean, when we got back, he was definitely happier for a while.  He wasn’t working himself to death anymore, was spending more time with us…he wasn’t even drinking that much.  Jack and I…well, we were just kids, but even we knew something was off by the time I was going to college and Jackie was graduating.”

Emma frowned.  “What makes you say that?”

“It was like…he started checking out, and it was happening more and more often.  I don’t know the whole of it…I know that a week after Granny Wendy’s funeral, he was there one day, and the next…he was just _gone_.  Mom’s packing up for England and setting my college money up.  Jack was okay, she knew—he’d just finished school and had already gotten a pretty good teaching job.”

There was real sympathy on Emma’s face now.  “Did you see your dad again?”

Maggie looked slightly uncertain.  “You know, I don’t know if I even still believe what happened.”

Emma smiled at her encouragingly.  “You know, there were a lot of things I didn’t believe before I came to Storybrooke.  It’s okay.”

Jack looked at them briefly, as if suspicious of something, but Maggie forged ahead.  “We were visiting Mom for Christmas, the second one after they split.  Out of nowhere, Dad shows up, and he looks like a wild man, like he’d spent ten years in a jungle or something.  He was going on and on about how he _tried_ to make a family work again, that he thought we would be his reason for not fearing getting old, that he’d lost us, just like he’d lost—“

“Maggie,” Jack interrupted sharply, having approached quickly and silently.  “What are you telling her?”

Maggie looked at him defiantly.  “You want to try and get Mom back, right?  Find out what happened to Dad?  Because the man that showed up that night may have _looked_ like our father, but you and I both know it most certainly _wasn’t_.  And right now, we don’t have that many options, and everyone _in_ this town knows that if you want help, you go to Sherriff Swan.”

“What do you mean, “get your mom back”?  She didn’t make the trip over with you?” Emma asked curiously.

Jack shook his head.  “No,” he replied tersely.  “But I bet your butt-face pirate knows why.”

Emma raised an eyebrow.  “Butt-face?  Really?”  She sighed and let it go quickly.  “Look, I get it.  You two have every reason to hate Hook, but I swear, he had _nothing_ to do with anyone coming here from the Land of Untold Stories,” she said earnestly.

Jack still looked skeptical.  “So we’re supposed think it’s just a coincidence that we saw the good captain there, and not long after, half of us are ripped away to this?”  He sighed softly.  “That man nearly took our father away from us; why not go for our mother too, get a matching set?  He must have thought Dad would come for her.”  He shook his head in disgust at the thought.

Emma placed her hands on her hips, wishing she could just poof them to wherever was needed just to prove magic was real, that she was telling the _truth_.  She had a feeling it would do more harm than good.  “He’s not trying to do that.”

Maggie bit her lower lip.  “Yeah, but how do you _know_ that?  We know him to be very good at getting people to do things if he made them think he had the upper hand.”  She shrugged her shoulders at her wording.  “Poor choice of words, but you get what we’re saying.  He nearly got Jack all together, you know.”

“Jeez,” Emma muttered, and looked up.  “I _know_ because…” She stopped for a moment before she continued.  “I _know_ because your father’s dead.”

Maggie gasped as Jack nearly vibrated beside of her.

“ _Hook_ ,” he spat venomously.

Emma stood up quickly.  “No!  It wasn’t Hook!” she stated, but Jack had already turned with his fists clenched at his side.  “Jack, just wait, please?”

“Why should we trust you?” Jack shouted rebelliously.  “For all we know, _he_ sent you here to convince us it was someone else so we wouldn’t _kill_ him!”

For all that she didn’t know either of them, Emma was certain that neither were killers.  Hook had been fairly earnest that neither were a deadly threat.  “I can prove it,” she offered.

Jack snorted.  “Come on, Maggie.  We’re not going to get any help here.”

Maggie laid a gentle hand on his arm.  “Well…you know how they said in that other place, right?  What Mom agreed with?  We have nothing to lose by hearing a liar, and everything to gain if there’s a kernel of truth.”

Jack pulled her aside, studying her face (again, so much like their mother that it _hurt_ ).  “Mags, come on.  You really think he’s changed?”

She shrugged.  “Well…he _looks_ different than I remember.  Maybe it was just me being a kid and imagining what a man who would kidnap children would look like.  And we’ve been here for over two months.  She _said_ he remembered us.  If he was really after Mom or Dad, don’t you think he would’ve approached us by now?”

Emma couldn’t help overhearing, and decided to try and lighten the situation.  “Well…he did mention being a bit cautious of a little girl who might rip his hook off.  He also seemed to think her brother might have a few words too.”

Jack glared at Emma to indicate her opinion wasn’t wanted.  Emma raised her hands and backed away as he turned back to Maggie.  “Why do you think we should trust her?”

“You know that her son’s in my music class,” Maggie said.  “And I’ve met his adoptive mother several times; she’s extraordinarily protective of him.  Unbelievably so.”

“And?” Jack grumbled.  “That’s a reason to trust his adoptive mother then, not her, and _certainly_ not Captain Hook.”

“However,” Maggie pressed on.  “If his adoptive mother trusts them both enough that I know for a fact they’re both on the approved list to take him home, then shouldn’t we at least listen to what she has to say?  We could get _Mom_ back, Jackie.”

He sighed, her hopeful face too hard to look at, even if he did just want to say no before finding Hook and taking a baseball bat to his face.  “Alright,” he finally conceded.  “Nothing to lose, right?  I think we’d need something pretty huge to even get back there to find Mom.”

She patted his hair affectionately.  “Maybe Sherriff Swan will help.”

Jack snorted as he batted her hand away.  “Help us right back onto a pirate ship, no doubt.”

Maggie blew a raspberry at him and they both turned back to Emma.  “So if it wasn’t the captain, who killed our father?”

Emma turned from where she had been watching the wind dance through the trees.  “He had another son,” she said very seriously, and let it set in as shock drained the color from Maggie’s face and Jack looked more skeptical than ever.  “You know the pawnshop in town?”

Maggie nodded, not trusting her voice.

“Go there and ask Mr. Gold about Peter Pan.  Tell him the savior sent you to collect her favor, and by telling you the truth, that debt is settled.”  Emma looked at Jack, who still looked as if he didn’t believe her as far as he could throw her.  “Look, you want proof of the magic here?  That I’m telling the truth about whatever happened between your father and you two?  Because I have a pretty good gut instinct, and that gut is telling me it’s his fault you two and your mom ended up in the Land of Untold Stories.”

The slightly twitchy reaction she saw in their hands indicated she had hit the nail on the head.

“Then listen to me now,” Emma went on.  “Magic here _is_ real.  And, once you’ve heard what Mr. Gold has to say, and you _do_ believe, Killian and I will do everything we possibly can to help you get back to your mom.  Deal?”

“ _Killian_?” Jack asked, and looked as if he didn’t know whether to scream or run.

“Hook,” Emma clarified.

“We don’t want _any_ of his help,” Jack said fiercely.  He looked at Maggie, who merely tilted her head at him.  He sighed, glaring at the ground briefly in thought before he glanced back at Emma.  “But we’ll talk to Mr. Gold.”

Emma clapped her hands together.  “That’s all I ask before you go and take a baseball bat to Hook while your sister tries to take his arm off.”

“Only the hook,” Maggie sniffed so primly that Emma couldn’t quite tell if she was serious or not.

“Well…just go to Gold’s shop.  He’ll tell you,” Emma finished.  She decided a _little_ proof of magic couldn’t hurt, and poofed away in a cloud of silvery-gray smoke.

Maggie raised her eyebrow at Jack.  “Well…guess that means there’s magic here too.”

“I’ve seen magic shows, and you were right there with me, so that’s not exactly going to convince me.”

The day wearing thin on her usually infinite patience, Maggie just sighed and shook her head.  “Come on; let’s go.”

XXXXX

Once Emma had made the decision to poof, she knew exactly where she was going.  Sure enough, the familiar, dimly lit shelves of Gold’s shop greeted her.

“I’ll ask you not to randomly decide to appear in my shop,” Gold said disdainfully, not looking up from a ledger he worked on.  “It’s quite rude.”

Emma rolled her eyes.  “Look, I don’t have much time.  I just need you to believe me, and once this day is over, you’ll no longer owe me a favor.”

Gold’s pen stopped moving for a moment before he smirked at his ledger in an entirely self-serving way.  “As far as I’m concerned, Miss Swan, I owe you nothing.  I, for one, would think you were smart enough to derive that information for yourself, given everything I’ve handed you over the years without so much as asking for _anything_ in return.”

“Oh, _please_ ,” Emma shot back.  “I would think that you would know by now that you still owe me a favor because we’ve saved each other’s collective asses more times than either of us would care to remember.  Hell, if it rankles so much that you think we’re even, consider it that _I_ owe you one.”

Gold looked up, dark eyes curious and distant.  “Well, then.  A favor from the savior herself.  What could be so important that you’re in such a desperate state as to want to be in _my_ debt?”

Emma rolled her shoulders.  “Two people are on their way here.  They are going to ask you about Peter Pan.”

Gold scoffed audibly.

“Hear me out,” Emma grit out.  “Listen, they’re his children too.”

He narrowed his gaze at her.  “I have no kin, Miss Swan.  Nice try,” he finished with a sneer.

“They are!” Emma snapped.  “Do whatever spell or potion you have to when they get here if you want.  But they are his children.  Hook kidnapped them to lure Peter back to Neverland years ago, when they were still just kids.”

Gold tapped his fingers rhythmically on the glass counter.  “And why should I tell them anything about him, even if it were true?  It seems to me they haven’t the faintest clue as to what sort of man he really was.”

“That’s the thing; they don’t.  But because of him, they ended up in the Land of Untold Stories, and I think they’ll tell you how that happened if you tell them who killed Peter Pan.”

Gold looked at her for a long moment; long enough that Emma was starting to wonder if Jack and Maggie would catch her there.  “And there’s the rub,” Gold finally muttered as he closed his ledger.  “You want to ensure your true love’s safety from them, I’ll wager, and my admitting to disposing of their _father_ ,” he spat the word as if spitting out poison, “Will relieve them of that pesky need to avenge his death.”

“You have a brother and a sister, Gold,” Emma said with a soft intensity.  “They deserve to know that they have a brother too.”

“And their mother?” Gold muttered, writing onto a piece of parchment now.

“Lost in the Land of Untold Stories.  They want to try and find her,” Emma replied bluntly.  “I don’t know if it’s possible, and with Hyde running amuck here, I don’t know how long it would take to find her either.”

“Naturally,” Gold groused and finished writing.  “Sign here, please.”

Emma shook her head at the abruptness of topic change.  “What is it?”  She pulled it forward, surprised and a bit annoyed at Gold’s amusement when the paper only had three letters:

_I.O.U._

“Makes things easier, don’t you think?” Gold asked, his tone making her feel uneasy.

“Crap on a cracker; you still owed me,” Emma muttered, but snatched the pen from his hand, and quickly scrawled her name on the paper.

“While that may be true, Miss Swan, I don’t see any proof that I do,” Gold replied in a business sort of tone as he inspected her signature.  He held up the paper, as if she didn’t see its importance.  “And the proof is in the paper, as it were.  I’ll tell them what they need to know and do what I need to do to see if it mattered.  Good day.”  He opened his ledger again in clear dismissal.

Emma sighed with a roll of her eyes.  “Been a pleasure as always,” she said sarcastically, giving a facetious sort of salute before she poofed out in her usual cloud of smoke.

Gold eyed where she had been standing, pondering further on the idea of siblings as he reached into the cabinets behind the main counter of the store.  If these so-called… _kin_ of his were actually related to him (and they believed Emma’s story), then one of them would more than likely submit to whatever test or spell he needed to perform.

And if it turned out that they were, indeed, related, then _one_ of them might prove useful in some way.

Gold was always on the lookout for useful things after all, and even if he hadn’t deducted that use just yet, it didn’t mean it wasn’t there.

XXXXX

“I’m sorry, you _what_?” Killian asked in a slightly strangled voice.

Regina raised an eyebrow at the outburst as she turned to Emma.  “I don’t always agree with Dustin Hoffman’s real life counterpart here, but in this case…you _what_?”

Emma grumbled as she poured another cup of coffee.  “I told them the truth!  They may look like adults, but I’m telling you, it’s like they’re children.”  She slapped her palms on the counter, trying to pop the crick out of her neck.  “No, seriously,” she countered to Killian and Regina’s incredulous looks, “Jack called Hook a butt-face.”

“A what?” Killian asked.

“A butt-face,” Regina repeated dead-pan.  “I’m assuming your ears are both working as opposed to your hands.”  She turned back to Emma.  “But sending them to Gold without someone there?  How do you know he’s not going to deal them into some kind of conscription?”

Killian seemed inclined to agree, which only made the vicious spoon of sugar sink that much deeper into Emma’s coffee.  “I have to agree with Regina, love, and the crocodile has every reason to turn those children against me.  Who knows what kind of nefarious activity he might have planned for them if he realizes they’re of use to him?”

Emma gave a frustrated sigh, though it mostly went through her nose, still cold from the outdoors.  “I’m not asking for either of your approvals on this.  I told those kids what happened to their father, and that _you_ ,” she said, nodding at Killian, “Weren’t responsible.  I told them they had a brother, and I told them we’d help them get their mother back.”

Regina scoffed now, clearly in disbelief.  “You…” She sighed, looking down and then gesturing toward Emma.  “You really told those _children_ that we’d help them get their mother back?”

Emma winced.  “Yeah…kinda?”

Killian was the one sighing now, muttering something about his hook being personal property while Regina seemed to be taking deep breaths on the matter.

“Oh, come on…we help people find each other all the time; it’s what my family _does_ ,” Emma shouted fiercely, and tamped down the annoyance when neither Regina or Killian acknowledged her.  She stirred her coffee stubbornly.  “I’m _telling_ you; we can _do_ this,” she grumbled.

“Perhaps, love,” Killian murmured before he looked at Regina and then Emma herself.  “And I’m telling you, if those children have the chance…I’m not completely certain that the young man won’t strike me down.”

Emma grunted irritably, hands planted on the counter again, as she looked at the floor.  Her head jerked up abruptly.  “Regina…what about you?”

Regina turned.  “I’m sorry?” she asked, seemingly startled.  “What could I possibly have to say to these children besides “sorry; my mother is in the underworld herself, your luck sucks”?”

“ _No_ , you could talk to Maggie,” Emma responded enthusiastically.  “Tell her about the magic here, tell her we can cross realms.  Hell, talk to _Jack_ ; he’s the dangerous one really.  Tell him that we can save their mother!”

Regina grimaced, reluctantly tracing her fingers on the back of the barstool.  “I can’t promise or guarantee that.”

“But you can tell her who you _are_ , which might get them to trust Killian more, and that might get them on board in general!” Emma pled back.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I can’t guarantee what you’re asking me to promise them,” Regina pointed out.  “You’re telling them we can find their mother when we currently don’t have a way to cross realms.  You’re attempting to get them to actually _trust_ …well…” She gave Hook a withering stare.  “ _Him_ , after he kidnapped them as children.  You _sent_ them to Gold for confirmation about their father, when we don’t even know what Gold would do with the information of having a brother and sister.  I can’t guarantee that I can get us to their _mother_ , and I barely trust the pirate myself; let alone Gold.  What about this makes you think I’d sign on for this misguided quest?”

Emma glared fiercely at the counter top.  “So we do nothing?”

Regina shot Hook an uneasy stare over Emma’s despondence.  “For now, I think that’s best.”

Killian started to reach for Emma’s shoulder, but ultimately pulled away without touching her at all.  “I don’t agree with her much, love.  But in this case…I would rather see what the Crocodile has to say before we go trying to find those we may not be able to in the first place.”

Emma grunted and shoved away from the counter.  “Glad to see you two have finally found common ground to agree upon.  Let me know when you’ve decided that the mother of these two children that you’ve already wronged so much in the first place deserve some attention.”  She exited the room, slamming the door behind her.

Regina sighed.  “That’s the problem with saviors.  They always want to save them all.”

Killian snorted softly.  “I don’t think that’s really a problem.  Do you?  Truly?”

Regina didn’t meet his gaze.  “It’s only the middle of their story, _pirate_ ,” she said, but her tone held little malice.  “We don’t know what their mother’s end is.  At the end of the day, I would rather those children wonder for as long as they can about their mother’s fate then force them to find out.”

With a sigh, Killian tilted his hook on the counter top.  “The middle is only a story that can’t reach its finale.  It’s the worst sort of limbo.”  He passed by her with a deep, unhappy sigh.  “It’s _limbo_ , Queen.  And you should know better than I that no amount of happiness or illusory paradise can take away the fact that there’s no closure.”

Regina stared after he left the apartment, her arms crossed and hands grasping tightly at her elbows.  Things were _never_ over in her opinion though, and to her, that tiny bit of middle only meant one thing—

 _Hope_.

XXXXXXXXXX

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: If you haven't read "The Stars Are All My Friends", this may not make much sense. In fact, I highly recommend you read that one first; link will be provided.
> 
> So, I’m pretty sure I’m still not done with this stupid plot bunny. Maybe one more installment to wrap it up? But this has been sitting on my hard drive for god knows how long without being finished, and I really needed it to be done.
> 
> It’s not tagged as CaptainSwanQueen because I’m the kind of author who tags all couples involved, and the last time I did that…well, it didn’t end well. I really like the idea though, for many reasons.
> 
> Anyway, this was still stuck in my head after the other ficlet I did for this table. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> As always, beta’d by LegacySoulReaver. Any remaining mistakes are my own.


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